Career

Hills was admitted to the California bar in 1959, and served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Los Angeles from 1959 to 1961. From 1962 to 1974, she was a partner at Munger, Tolles, Hills, and Rickershauser in Los Angeles. In 1972, she was an adjunct professor at UCLA.[3] An authority on federal practice and anti-trust law, Mrs. Hills wrote of Federal Civil Practice and Antitrust Advisor.[4] She is a former president of the National Association of Women Lawyers.

Hills' lack of relevant experience was somewhat controversial during the hearings for her nomination to head the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. While there, she implemented the demolition policy of the massive, black Public housing project in Northwest St. Louis, Pruitt-Igoe, which left thousands of those residents homeless throughout the streets of St. Louis. From 1978 through 1989, she was again a practicing attorney, and she served as chairwoman of the Urban Institute from 1983 through 1988.

U.S. Trade Representative

Hills served as U.S. Trade Representative under PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1993. She was under pressure to implement the 1988 Omnibus Foreign Trade and Competitiveness Act to go after countries that were considered to be trading unfairly with the U.S. The New York Times called Section 301 of the Act her "crowbar", which enabled the U.S. to impose tariffs as high as 100%. She initially went after Japan, Brazil and India, although the Bush administration later decided Japan had changed its ways.[1]

An advocate of free trade, she was the primary U.S. negotiator of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In 2000, Hills was awarded the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle (La Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca), which is the highest honor awarded to non-citizens by the Mexican government.[5] In fact, it was the first time Mexican-Americans were awarded this award since November 12, 1990 when the union leader, Cesar Chavez, received it.[6]

President George H.W. Bush's administration's priority was to hammer out the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in the Uruguay Round, where Hills was known as a strong negotiator. "Delegations from 97 countries [sought] ways to notch down everyone's tariffs and remove other obstacles to trade." "The 97 signatories to GATT account for two-thirds of the $3 trillion in merchandise traded each year. Since the original agreement in 1947, GATT has been altered six times..." but, "after the last GATT revision – the Tokyo Round, which started in 1976 – many American industries were outclassed by others".[1]

In 2008, Yale University granted her an honorary degree. She has also received honorary degrees from other institutions.[11]

North American community

In 2005, Hills participated in the Task Force on the Future of North America. The Task Force produced a controversial report called Building a North American Community sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations. The reported advocated strengthening trading relationships between the U.S., Canada and Mexico by making trade more efficient, building infrastructure in North America, fast tracking borders and integrating language. For example, it recommended assisting "elementary and secondary schools in teaching about North America." (page 29) "Develop teacher exchange and training programs for elementary and secondary school teachers. This would assist in removing language barriers and give some students a greater sense of a North American identity. Greater efforts should also be made to recruit Mexican language teachers to teach Spanish in the United States and Canada."[12]